10 reasons why you’re never too old to dress up

Think fancy dress is just for kids? Then think again, friend. In fact it’s never been more popular, and people from all walks of life are getting in on the fun. Costume designs are getting ever more inventive and outlandish – just check out the smartphone app-enabled wizardry on the Digital Dudz range from the people behind (or should that be inside?) morphsuits.com for how crazy things are getting. Here are ten very good reasons why you should never be down on dressing up…

It keeps you young!
Dressing up is fun, and everyone knows that having fun helps you stay young-at-heart, as these German nursing-home residents recently proved. Tell me they’re not having a great time. It’s all about the excitement of coming up with an idea and then racing around trying to put it together. Plus, you then get to act out whatever you’re dressed as, so you can unleash your quirkiest fantasies or darkest desires.

It promotes parent-child bondingChildren have to dress up frequently as part of growing up. Going to their friends’ parties, entering competitions, taking part in parades and festivals, or acting in the school play, all often involve some form of costume. And if she sees her folks getting in on the act too it will make it easier to persuade your daughter to stand still for half an hour while you sew a pair of fairy wings to her tutu.

It’s attention-grabbingIt’s easy to feel insignificant at big events like festivals where there are thousands of people milling around, so if you like to stand out in a crowd then get dressed up. The weirder, the better, because that’s what will keep people coming up to get their photo taken with you.

It makes movies a more immersive experienceThink about it – would going to the cinema to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, or The Room be half as much fun if the entire audience wasn’t dressed up as the characters? Half the time no-one even pays any attention to what’s happening on-screen, they’re too busy admiring each others’ wardrobe choices. And with the news that the UK’s Secret Cinema movement may expand to New York soon, that will give further impetus to the idea that going to the movies is something you should get dressed up for, rather than dressed-down.

It gives parties more of a focus
And we’re not talking about those parties where the hosts are tediously quirky and insist on their guests matching their eccentricities if they want to come. Murder mystery parties, inspired by Agatha Christie’s ever-entertaining novels, are all the rage. Everyone gets dressed up in suitable period attire and sits down to dinner, which is then rudely interrupted by a murder (not a real one) which the assembled guests then have to solve before coffee is served.

It makes the Stag feel better
As is customary on every Stag weekend, the groom-to-be must always be forced into a costume that will expose him to ridicule from every passer-by. It’s cruel to let him suffer alone though, so show some solidarity and get the whole crew to wear a gorilla outfit too.

It’s for a good causeEver since people first started running marathons for charity, it has been tradition for some participants to wear fancy-dress as they complete the route. “Pay me X number of dollars, and I will run a marathon dressed as a convict/camel/corndog.” Thousands of charities get much-needed funding this way every year, plus you get to see your best friends stagger for miles in a hot, sweaty and uncomfortable outfit while you watch from the sidelines with a beer. It’s perfect.

It makes sporting events more funYou’ve paid hundreds of dollars for your ticket, left home at a ridiculous hour to get the best seat, and now your team is getting whipped while rain buckets down. But it’s not all bad – you came as part of a group and you’re all dressed up like clowns – so even though inside you’re weeping, on the outside you’re still happy.

It’s on-trendWhen was the last time you recall looking at the movie listings and there not being at least one superhero flick on? Sometime around 1990, probably. Superheroes aren’t going away anytime soon so get with the program and get suited up for the premiere!

It’s religiousPurim is a Jewish religious holiday that falls on the 15th day of Adar in the Hebrew calendar. Besides donating to charity and eating celebratory meals, another custom is to get dressed up, often as the opposite sex. Not for nothing is this seen as one of the happiest of festivals in the religious calendar.